Black Creoles as Cultural Bridge in the Atlantic World

The dynamics of the multicultural eighteenth-century Atlantic World demanded multiple skills to successfully establish cross-cultural relations among the parties involved. As the Slave Trade grew, slave traders and African Kings also increased their demand for individuals who possessed multiple skills to act as intermediaries also increased to serve as a cultural bridge in the heterogeneous world. Historian David Northrup notes in his work, Africa’s Discovery of Europe 1450-1850, that as early as the mid-1400s, many African Kings and elites began sending their sons to Europe to be educated. The Creolization of these students allowed them to serve as intermediaries of the commercial exchange between Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Other creoles born into bondage in the western hemisphere, such as Rebecca earned their freedom with their intellectual capabilities and spiritual commitment also served as a cultural bridge for European missionaries to reach enslaved Africans for conversion to Christianity